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Guided tours Israel tour company


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Has anybody used Guided tours Isreal for trips from Haifa and Ashdod? They have a lot of stops on their tours and I would like to get some feedback from somebody who has used them. How long were the trips? Was there enough time at each stop? Was the guide good? Any info would be great. Thanks

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  • 4 months later...
Has anybody used Guided tours Isreal for trips from Haifa and Ashdod? They have a lot of stops on their tours and I would like to get some feedback from somebody who has used them. How long were the trips? Was there enough time at each stop? Was the guide good? Any info would be great. Thanks

 

There are many tour operators in Israel who arrange small groups excursions. When a tour operator publishes an itinerary it become his obligation. Ask from your tour operator the full itinerary for the specific day tour you want to join and if you'll post it here it will be easier to tell you whether it is a reasonable one or not.

such tours are "privately arranged" tours and not "a private" tour. A private tour is one in which you hire a specific guide and together with him you decide about the itinerary and of course you can make changes before and during the tour. Such a tour of course cost much more.

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We have just returned from a cruise with a port stop at Ashdod. We booked a one day tour to Jerusalem and Bethlehem with Israel Guided Tours. It was a great one day tour with an excellent guide and driver. I have led previous tours to Israel and this guide, Mickey. was one of the best. She was efficient, knowledgable, and humorous. It was a great day and we highly recommend Guided Tours. Needless to say the cost of the tour was far below ship's prices.

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  • 2 years later...

to whomever it may concern. I do lots of research and travel a good amount for my age (28). I throughly liked guided tours isreal. We did a reputable private guide and guided tours and i believe that guided tours was better price with an excellent experience! I would recommend them. Our guide was Micky and she excelled in timing, information, guiding, passion for the places we went.

 

Hannah

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  • 2 weeks later...
to whomever it may concern. I do lots of research and travel a good amount for my age (28). I throughly liked guided tours isreal. We did a reputable private guide and guided tours and i believe that guided tours was better price with an excellent experience! I would recommend them. Our guide was Micky and she excelled in timing, information, guiding, passion for the places we went.

 

Hannah

 

Hey, this is hannah again. I don't know what happened. I ment to say guidedtoursisreal.com not the other one--the website is www.GuidedToursIsrael.com

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  • 3 weeks later...

For our recent stops in Haifa and Ashdod in Isreal on the Pacific Princess, the 6 of us (all adults) used Guided Tours Israel for both days. We ended up having the same guide and vehicle at both ports.

 

We picked this tour company based on the various positive comments and reviews that we had read, since none of us had been to Israel previously, and needed some direction as to the various sites and opportunities.

 

Booking the tours was very easy, and there was plenty of pre-departure confirmation. Everything seems very well run and organized, and both the guide and the company worked hard to accommodate requested changes in our itinerary. For the most part we followed their standard itinerary, and it seemed to provide a good overview of the various sites of interest. Ours was supposed to be a Christian oriented tour, and the stops were geared towards that perspective. The guide, although Jewish, certainly had a sufficient understanding and knowledge of the Christian aspects of the places we visited.

 

The highlight was our visit to Bethlehem, which requires a transfer to a Palestinian driver. This worked fine, although you are stuck in a gift shop for about 15 to 20 minutes as the "price" of the transfer service. Once in Bethelhem, we were handed off to a licensed guide for a tour of the church, and he was amazing. He is a Palestinian Christian, and his presentation was passionate, informative and easy to understand, which really set him apart from our other, regular, guide.

 

The tour company provided everything as promised, so overall I would certainly recommended the company. I think the main issue was kind of a personality conflict with our guide - he was competent, but as a group we really did not connect. In discussions with some other passengers on the ship after our Israel stops and their experiences and comments, I think our group would have preferred a little stronger Christian orientation and tour presentation, but we did not know enough to make that request in advance.

 

A couple of minor "complaints" - we were assured that US dollars were accepted everywhere, and on the first day, that was true, but in Jerusalem, the unofficial exchange rate was horrible when we used the dollars - it would have been nice to been advised to get some local currency in advance at an ATM. The guide had a very nice Land Rover, which would have been perfect for 3 or 4 persons; for 6 people with backpacks and purses, it was pretty crammed, and you spend a lot of time in the car, particularly on the first day out of Haifa.

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We were in Israel last month & used Guided Tours Israel. Our guide was Mica for both days. He is Jewish but was very knowledgeable about the Christian sites. There was 12 of us in a comfortable van for about a 9 hour tour. The Bethlehem part was very rushed,the guide spewing so much information that it was difficult to digest it all. Our group did not get to go down into the manger area at the Church of the Nativity as the line was hours long and our time in Bethlehem was only 2 hours, including lunch & the obligatory gift shop stop. It was disappointing & we would have preferred more time in Jerusalem & skipped Bethlehem. Guide Mica bought 2 different kinds of bread and a special herb dip in the souk for us to sample which was very good. We would not hesitate to recommend Guided Tours Israel & our guide Mica. Have a great time.

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Does GTI 'add' to your group if you have booked a tour for 8 people, and you have all spots filled? Purposely trying to keep group small on our overnight tour, but feel the group may be enlarged without our knowing. Does this happen?

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Does GTI 'add' to your group if you have booked a tour for 8 people, and you have all spots filled? Purposely trying to keep group small on our overnight tour, but feel the group may be enlarged without our knowing. Does this happen?

 

Ours wasn't. We were booked as 8.

 

Incidentally, we had dropped to 7 a few days before, which I told the company and got an email back that that was fine. Glad I had the email on my blackberry to show the driver, because he was going to charge us for 8, anyway, until I showed him the company's ok.

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Does GTI 'add' to your group if you have booked a tour for 8 people, and you have all spots filled? Purposely trying to keep group small on our overnight tour, but feel the group may be enlarged without our knowing. Does this happen?

 

 

See post #3 from motib, who is a private guide.

 

In essence, GTI offers "shared" small group tours, to which they can and will add tourists to fill up a group. GTI charges per person for these shared small group tours. GTI also offers "private" tours, which are billed as a group rate rather than an individual rate. For the private tour you will have more control over the itinerary and will not have other tourists added to your group, but, as mentioned by motib, the cost is higher. However, if you want a private tour, consider hiring your own guide rather than working through a tour company. By doing so you (1) eliminate the middle man who takes a cut in the price you pay and (2) have control over who is doing the guiding. On many tours it's the individual guide, and how your group interacts with him/her, that makes all the difference between an okay tour and a great one. Have a great trip.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Official guids should be good as they have to sit a test.

Most work for them selves so cheaper to book direct, we did and he was excellent, so impressed we bookedanother day

Heres his Email

mordi zissman [morzissman@yahoo.com]

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  • 1 month later...

We will be in Israel on October 3rd, 4th and 5th. We have booked 3 days with GTI. I know that we have to pay our own entrance fees to various sites with Guided Tours Israel. Did you pay in American dollars or use a credit card? What about paying for lunch each day?

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We paid the entrance fees a variety of ways. On the first day we were in a group of 11 people. The GTI guide collected US dollars for Masada and the Dead Sea. We had a private tour for the other 3 days in Israel and we used a credit card to pay the fees ourselves. We paid for lunch using Israeli currency.

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  • 1 month later...
to whomever it may concern. I do lots of research and travel a good amount for my age (28). I throughly liked guided tours isreal. We did a reputable private guide and guided tours and i believe that guided tours was better price with an excellent experience! I would recommend them. Our guide was Micky and she excelled in timing, information, guiding, passion for the places we went.

 

Hannah

 

We visit Israel Aug 8th and 9th, 2012, our trip to Israel was great.

 

There were nine in our group and GTI asked if they could add four more people to our group and that was fine. I will recommend Guided Tours Israel to anyone who is going to visit Israel. Mickey the Tour Guide was waiting for us when we arrived at Port Haifa and Ashdod, she was amazing, friendly, and knowledgeable and we loved her. The van was comfortable and the Driver was very good.

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  • 1 month later...

We were on the NCL Jade 10th sailing that made it into both Israel and Egypt before those ports were closed for future sailings. I have nothing but wonderful things to say about our tours with Guided Tours of Israel. Tal Megged was our tour guide and the knowledge she holds about this country is remarkable. We recommend GTI for anyone that maybe considering traveling to this region. Thanks once again GTI

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You won't regret using GTI. We had a private tour just for the eight of us with a Christian perspective. We had a different guide each day and both had over 30 years of experience and both Jewish. We were informed the night before arriving Israel that our second port Ashdod will be cancelled due to the conflict and will be docked at Haifa both days. We contacted GTI immediately to change our itinerary. Instead of going to Jerusalem on the second day we preferred to do that on the first day so we have more time to tour the city not having to worry about the time getting back to the ship. GTI responded immediately saying that shouldn't be a problem but to discuss that with our guide the next day. Amikim, a real gentleman, was our guide for the first day. He was a little late picking us up in the morning because he was caught in traffic coming from Jerusalem which is more than two hours away. He had no problem switching itineraries and did we have a great day! He even invited us to his house while traveling from Dead Sea to Jerusalem. Amikim was very patience and never rushed us and we didn't get back to the ship until well after 10:00pm and he had to drive two hours back to his home. the next day was Friday and Amikim observes Sabbath so he didn't work. Amikim told us that once we meet our guide for the next day we will forget about him. Ido, our guide for the second day was wonderful also. He is a person big with words and he was funny! We had an excellent day touring the Galilee area with Ido. No, we did not forget Amikim and I must say both of them left us with really good impressions of Isreal. GTI did not charge us extra for the longer distance between Haifa and Jerusalem versus Ashdod and Jerusalem, the closer route. All in all we had a wonderful two-day tour of Israel, thanks to GTI, Amikim, and Ido!

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  • 2 weeks later...

We took two day tours with GTI in May of this year. I highly recommend them. Our guide Micha was excellent, informative and accomodating. We had a very comfortable, air-conditioned van. The first day, Galilee, there were about a dozen passengers; the second day, Jerusalem and Bethlehem, there were about ten. It did not seem crowded.

The pace of the tours was lively, as there was so much to see, but it was well organized and truly the experience of a lifetime.

I highly recomment GTI!

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  • 2 weeks later...

We booked with GTI for 2 of our 3 days in Israel last October (RCCL). The first day in Ashod, we had a private tour with just 4 of us. The GTI guide was very knowledgeable with the Christian sites even though he was Jewish. We docked late and he had to rush to get us to all the places we wanted to see. The stops were brief, but at least we saw the major sites including Bethlehem. At one point, he stopped at an outside stand and bought us bread with spices to dip it into. (A nice personal thing to do.) Our only regret was that we asked to see one of the Stations of the Cross outside of the Holy Sepulcher Church and we were shown the one directly outside the church. We should have been more specific in saying we wanted to do part of the Via Delorosa. But, given the time frame, we saw a lot and it was wonderful!

 

The second day in Ashod, we took a small group GTI tour (arranged by a CC member on this board) to Masada and the Dead Sea. Our guide was a little unorganized, but again, very knowledgeable and it was a good day also.

 

I would highly recommend GTI and would use them again.

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  • 1 month later...

In early February 2013, we were in Haifa port for 2 days since our cruise to Ashdod was cancelled. GTI met us in Haifa both days to tour Nazareth etc for the first day and Jerusalem and the Dead Sea for the second day. Our guide for both days was Mickey, who was absolutely the best, it was almost as if she had lived in the time and was back to explain it to everyone. I would highly recommend GTI, they are excellent and very flexible. No worries for anything. Ask for Mickey, if you get her, you will love it. Michael

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi, I went on the GTI webpage. They actually suggest to do the Bethlem and Jerusalem from the Ashdod port, being closer. We will be in Haifa port for 2 days, the same as you. Was the driving very long and did you have enough time to enjoy the tour or was it very rushed?

 

Thanks:)

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Not answering behalf of GTI but, since some cruise companies decided to cancel Ashdod and to come to our port in Haifa (no good reason to do so) like NCL, Regent and Oceania, most local provider adjusted their tour.

Most of them offer both Jerusalem and Bethlehem and Jerusalem and the Dead Sea from Haifa Port also. It is 2.5hrs. drive more or less from Haifa to Jerusalem.

Tours going to the Dead Sea also will not drive back to Haifa via Jerusalem but via the Jordan Valley and that drive is 2.5hrs. drive too.

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  • 1 month later...

We used GTI for 2 individual day trips North Israel from Haifa and Jerusalem and Bethlehem from Ashdod. We found them very easy to deal with and reliable once there. We seen everything that we wanted in two full days. Better to note that these tours are very full, so no point in booking them and then complaining that you have to walk a lot -they are active tours. Having said that we had 8 people on the first day and 16 on the second and it was all good. Would definately use again.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I posted this review on Tripadvisor:

 

We were in Haifa for two days on the Norwegian Jade. After reading the reviews here on tripadvisor and on Cruise Critic we decided to go with GTI for the tours in Israel instead of choosing what the cruise was offering.

 

Signed up via the site and promptly received an email from Leo with the itinerary and prices. Before the trip he responded all the questions that we had, communication went smoothly all the time.

 

The first day we did the Galilee Tour (Christian Northern Israel tour) which includes many of the biblical sites of interest, you can see the details on their website. On the second day we did Jerusalem + The Dead Sea.

 

Our guide Sandy is very knowledgeable, he explained the biblical background of the sites we were visiting and gave us valuable info about the State of Israel, Kibutz, Judaism, etc.

 

We were there during Obama's visit, when we were about to leave Jerusalem several roads were blocked, the van was able to do a U turn where buses couldn't, Sandy talked to the policeman and he let was go through right before blocking yet another road. That allowed us to leave in time to get to the Dead Sea as planned. Later that evening we found out that some of the groups doing the tours offered by the ship had to get out of the city via the Light Rail because the buses couldn't get to them or vice-verse. Yet another advantage of doing these tours in smaller groups like the ones offered by GTI.

 

Would definitely recommend "Guided Tours Israel" to anyone visiting Israel. We had a great experience there thanks to them.

 

P.S. They brought was back to the ship on time as promised.

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